Chapter 3 examines how Frank’s concern with registering the material consequences of time’s passing informs his autobiographical reflections in Conversations in Vermont, Liferaft Earth and About Me: ...
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Chapter 3 examines how Frank’s concern with registering the material consequences of time’s passing informs his autobiographical reflections in Conversations in Vermont, Liferaft Earth and About Me: A Musical. In Conversations in Vermont the gesture of picking up a photograph, looking at it for a second or two, and putting it aside so as to look at another image, is used to initiate a tension, between the past and the present as well as between the image and its paper support. A similar tension characterizes the interaction of image and written text found in the extraordinary black-and-white Polaroids that Frank produced during the early 1970s.Less

George Kouvaros

Published in print: 2015-09-01

Chapter 3 examines how Frank’s concern with registering the material consequences of time’s passing informs his autobiographical reflections in Conversations in Vermont, Liferaft Earth and About Me: A Musical. In Conversations in Vermont the gesture of picking up a photograph, looking at it for a second or two, and putting it aside so as to look at another image, is used to initiate a tension, between the past and the present as well as between the image and its paper support. A similar tension characterizes the interaction of image and written text found in the extraordinary black-and-white Polaroids that Frank produced during the early 1970s.

A flurry of discoveries in the 1920s of stone artifacts in association with extinct animals culminated in the discovery of spear points unequivocally associated with bones of an extinct bison at a ...
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A flurry of discoveries in the 1920s of stone artifacts in association with extinct animals culminated in the discovery of spear points unequivocally associated with bones of an extinct bison at a site in Folsom, New Mexico. The antiquity of the bison was not precisely known but it was generally agreed to be Pleistocene in age, and its association with the points was unimpeachable. The Pleistocene barrier to human antiquity was finally broken. That end came about largely in spite of and not because of those promoting this evidence of antiquity, Harold Cook, Jesse Figgins and Oliver Hay. The trio's previous, wildly inflated claims of human antiquity at Snake Creek, Nebraska, and Lone Wolf Creek, Texas, earned the skepticism of the scientific community, led to confrontations with Holmes and Hrdlička, but also a means by which the controversy could be resolved. When the Folsom discovery was made others, paleontologist Barnum Brown and archaeologists Frank Roberts and Alfred Kidder, were called in to attest to the meaning of the find. As Folsom did not rely on inherently ‘primitive’ artifacts or attributes of human skeletal morphology, neither Hrdlička nor Holmes could do much more than watch from the sidelines and smolder.Less

In the Belly of the Beast, 1921–1928

David J. Meltzer

Published in print: 2015-11-03

A flurry of discoveries in the 1920s of stone artifacts in association with extinct animals culminated in the discovery of spear points unequivocally associated with bones of an extinct bison at a site in Folsom, New Mexico. The antiquity of the bison was not precisely known but it was generally agreed to be Pleistocene in age, and its association with the points was unimpeachable. The Pleistocene barrier to human antiquity was finally broken. That end came about largely in spite of and not because of those promoting this evidence of antiquity, Harold Cook, Jesse Figgins and Oliver Hay. The trio's previous, wildly inflated claims of human antiquity at Snake Creek, Nebraska, and Lone Wolf Creek, Texas, earned the skepticism of the scientific community, led to confrontations with Holmes and Hrdlička, but also a means by which the controversy could be resolved. When the Folsom discovery was made others, paleontologist Barnum Brown and archaeologists Frank Roberts and Alfred Kidder, were called in to attest to the meaning of the find. As Folsom did not rely on inherently ‘primitive’ artifacts or attributes of human skeletal morphology, neither Hrdlička nor Holmes could do much more than watch from the sidelines and smolder.

This epilogue discusses two issues and how to deal with them: the indiscriminate use of income for personal consumption and the use of wealth for maintaining a class structure. Robert Frank suggests ...
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This epilogue discusses two issues and how to deal with them: the indiscriminate use of income for personal consumption and the use of wealth for maintaining a class structure. Robert Frank suggests that the way to deal with indiscriminate use of income for personal consumption is to institute a progressive consumption tax. A progressive consumption tax has been supported by both the Right and the Left. Even Milton Friedman suggested in a 1943 article that a progressive consumption tax is the best way to reduce conspicuous consumption and encourage investment. With respect to the use of wealth to maintain a class structure, the epilogue explains why we need an estate tax. It argues that the estate tax is important for sustaining philanthropy, which has been wedded to promoting opportunity creation and innovation throughout American history.Less

Changing the Tax Laws

Zoltan J. Acs

Published in print: 2013-02-24

This epilogue discusses two issues and how to deal with them: the indiscriminate use of income for personal consumption and the use of wealth for maintaining a class structure. Robert Frank suggests that the way to deal with indiscriminate use of income for personal consumption is to institute a progressive consumption tax. A progressive consumption tax has been supported by both the Right and the Left. Even Milton Friedman suggested in a 1943 article that a progressive consumption tax is the best way to reduce conspicuous consumption and encourage investment. With respect to the use of wealth to maintain a class structure, the epilogue explains why we need an estate tax. It argues that the estate tax is important for sustaining philanthropy, which has been wedded to promoting opportunity creation and innovation throughout American history.

Chapter 4 considers how the formal strategies evident in the photographs Frank has produced since the publication of The Americans influence the storytelling structures and forms of address employed ...
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Chapter 4 considers how the formal strategies evident in the photographs Frank has produced since the publication of The Americans influence the storytelling structures and forms of address employed in the loose trilogy constituted by Life Dances On … , Home Improvements and The Present. In each of these works, Frank records the details of a world that is close at hand: a cup resting under a dripping faucet, flies crawling across a windowpane, dime-store souvenirs gathering dust on a windowsill. At the same time, he renders the presence of people and events that exist only through the processes of memory.Less

“The Fire of Pain” : Life Dances On …, Home Improvements, The Present

George Kouvaros

Published in print: 2015-09-01

Chapter 4 considers how the formal strategies evident in the photographs Frank has produced since the publication of The Americans influence the storytelling structures and forms of address employed in the loose trilogy constituted by Life Dances On … , Home Improvements and The Present. In each of these works, Frank records the details of a world that is close at hand: a cup resting under a dripping faucet, flies crawling across a windowpane, dime-store souvenirs gathering dust on a windowsill. At the same time, he renders the presence of people and events that exist only through the processes of memory.

The introduction outlines Robert Frank’s life and development as a filmmaker and photographer. His works always depicted a narrative in one way or another. He also used striking images and a ...
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The introduction outlines Robert Frank’s life and development as a filmmaker and photographer. His works always depicted a narrative in one way or another. He also used striking images and a documentary point of view to capture the way of life for everyday Americans. Kouvaros connects Frank’s film The Americans to contemporary Jack Kerouac’s On the Road. Finally, the introduction explains how being a photographer impacted Frank’s filmmaking style and decisions.Less

Awakening the Eye

George Kouvaros

Published in print: 2015-09-01

The introduction outlines Robert Frank’s life and development as a filmmaker and photographer. His works always depicted a narrative in one way or another. He also used striking images and a documentary point of view to capture the way of life for everyday Americans. Kouvaros connects Frank’s film The Americans to contemporary Jack Kerouac’s On the Road. Finally, the introduction explains how being a photographer impacted Frank’s filmmaking style and decisions.

Chapter 5 connects Frank’s obsession with the fragment to a view of human history as defined by an essential transitoriness. The piles of photographs, letters and souvenirs that the filmmaker returns ...
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Chapter 5 connects Frank’s obsession with the fragment to a view of human history as defined by an essential transitoriness. The piles of photographs, letters and souvenirs that the filmmaker returns to again and again operate as enigmatic reminders of what the narrator in Chris Marker’s Sunless (1983) calls “the impermanence of things.” The feelings of loss and estrangement inspired by Frank’s treatment of everyday objects challenge the possibility of providing a full account of either the life or the work. They reveal and, at the same time, hide truth.Less

Fragments Shored against My Ruins : Moving Pictures, True Story

George Kouvaros

Published in print: 2015-09-01

Chapter 5 connects Frank’s obsession with the fragment to a view of human history as defined by an essential transitoriness. The piles of photographs, letters and souvenirs that the filmmaker returns to again and again operate as enigmatic reminders of what the narrator in Chris Marker’s Sunless (1983) calls “the impermanence of things.” The feelings of loss and estrangement inspired by Frank’s treatment of everyday objects challenge the possibility of providing a full account of either the life or the work. They reveal and, at the same time, hide truth.

In this chapter the benefits and costs of group size are discussed to lay the groundwork for establishing later how group size affects moral decision making. The gains from specialization are shown ...
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In this chapter the benefits and costs of group size are discussed to lay the groundwork for establishing later how group size affects moral decision making. The gains from specialization are shown to rise with the scale of production. But it is also shown that the cost of group size increases because the problem of opportunism is worsened. This is because of the strengthening of commons dilemma incentives and greater localization of knowledge. Friedrich Hayek explained how market prices alleviate the problem of local knowledge across society, but Ronald Coase’s work shows why this mechanism will not work within firms. To efficiently employ local knowledge, firm owners must trust that those who possess it won’t engage in opportunism. Echoing Robert Frank, it is argued that since in many cases detecting opportunism is impossible (golden opportunities), prudential restraint is insufficient – only internalized (moral) restraint can work.Less

Group Size

David C. Rose

Published in print: 2011-11-25

In this chapter the benefits and costs of group size are discussed to lay the groundwork for establishing later how group size affects moral decision making. The gains from specialization are shown to rise with the scale of production. But it is also shown that the cost of group size increases because the problem of opportunism is worsened. This is because of the strengthening of commons dilemma incentives and greater localization of knowledge. Friedrich Hayek explained how market prices alleviate the problem of local knowledge across society, but Ronald Coase’s work shows why this mechanism will not work within firms. To efficiently employ local knowledge, firm owners must trust that those who possess it won’t engage in opportunism. Echoing Robert Frank, it is argued that since in many cases detecting opportunism is impossible (golden opportunities), prudential restraint is insufficient – only internalized (moral) restraint can work.

Chapter 2 locates Frank’s first feature-length film Me and My Brother in two interconnected contexts: one, that of the new forms of non-fiction filmmaking that emerged in the wake of Direct Cinema ...
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Chapter 2 locates Frank’s first feature-length film Me and My Brother in two interconnected contexts: one, that of the new forms of non-fiction filmmaking that emerged in the wake of Direct Cinema and, the other, that of the discontinuous narrative structures associated with the French New Wave. In unpacking how these contexts left their mark on Frank’s development as a filmmaker, I pay particular attention to the affinity between Me and My Brother and Shirley Clarke’s extraordinary 99-minute direct-to-camera interview, Portrait of Jason (1967). In both films we find a model of filmmaking characterized by a crossing of frontiers between documentary and fiction, and between filmmaker and subject.Less

He’s Not There : Me and My Brother, One Hour

George Kouvaros

Published in print: 2015-09-01

Chapter 2 locates Frank’s first feature-length film Me and My Brother in two interconnected contexts: one, that of the new forms of non-fiction filmmaking that emerged in the wake of Direct Cinema and, the other, that of the discontinuous narrative structures associated with the French New Wave. In unpacking how these contexts left their mark on Frank’s development as a filmmaker, I pay particular attention to the affinity between Me and My Brother and Shirley Clarke’s extraordinary 99-minute direct-to-camera interview, Portrait of Jason (1967). In both films we find a model of filmmaking characterized by a crossing of frontiers between documentary and fiction, and between filmmaker and subject.

As the first book-length study of Robert Frank’s work in film and video, Awakening the Eye provides a new account of the career of one of America’s most important twentieth-century artists. Keeping ...
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As the first book-length study of Robert Frank’s work in film and video, Awakening the Eye provides a new account of the career of one of America’s most important twentieth-century artists. Keeping the dual nature of Frank’s career as a photographer-filmmaker in mind, each of the chapters pays particular attention to those instances when ideas and ways of working developed in one media leave their mark on another. By examining Frank’s films in the context of his more widely recognized photographic work, this study stands as a model of cross-media history in which film and photography are viewed not as divergent fields, but as complicit in their search for new forms of visual expression. Awakening the Eye is about the intricate material negotiations that define Frank’s engagement with photography, film and writing; it is also about the artist’s determination to forge a revealing and highly personal connection between the events and circumstances of his life and the material qualities of his work.Less

Awakening the Eye : Robert Frank's American Cinema

George Kouvaros

Published in print: 2015-09-01

As the first book-length study of Robert Frank’s work in film and video, Awakening the Eye provides a new account of the career of one of America’s most important twentieth-century artists. Keeping the dual nature of Frank’s career as a photographer-filmmaker in mind, each of the chapters pays particular attention to those instances when ideas and ways of working developed in one media leave their mark on another. By examining Frank’s films in the context of his more widely recognized photographic work, this study stands as a model of cross-media history in which film and photography are viewed not as divergent fields, but as complicit in their search for new forms of visual expression. Awakening the Eye is about the intricate material negotiations that define Frank’s engagement with photography, film and writing; it is also about the artist’s determination to forge a revealing and highly personal connection between the events and circumstances of his life and the material qualities of his work.

From its inception, photographic social-panorama portraiture was invested with positivist content that, despite aesthetic shifts, remained intact until the 1960s. Engaging in an extended flashback, ...
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From its inception, photographic social-panorama portraiture was invested with positivist content that, despite aesthetic shifts, remained intact until the 1960s. Engaging in an extended flashback, this chapter traces the threads of positivist, typological discourse from the 1960s back to the early twentieth century to see how deeply ingrained such discourse had become. The analysis focuses upon Arbus’s relationship to the social-panorama portraits of Robert Frank, Lisette Model, Brassaï, Walker Evans, and August Sander. Historicized collectively, portraits by these photographers exemplify the transition of positivist content in photographic portraiture from the 1920s to the postwar period.Less

Documentary Photography and the Positivist Social Gallery

Frederick Gross

Published in print: 2012-02-01

From its inception, photographic social-panorama portraiture was invested with positivist content that, despite aesthetic shifts, remained intact until the 1960s. Engaging in an extended flashback, this chapter traces the threads of positivist, typological discourse from the 1960s back to the early twentieth century to see how deeply ingrained such discourse had become. The analysis focuses upon Arbus’s relationship to the social-panorama portraits of Robert Frank, Lisette Model, Brassaï, Walker Evans, and August Sander. Historicized collectively, portraits by these photographers exemplify the transition of positivist content in photographic portraiture from the 1920s to the postwar period.